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Police are searching for Dwayne Dollar, 27. They said he escaped as police swarmed the Staples store in Tilton late Friday.

Police said it turns out their suspects are wanted in heists of toner cartridges from Staples stores in at least four New England states.

It has been a costly crime wave over the past week, with more than $100,000 in toner cartridges stolen in New Jersey alone, according to police.

Investigators said that by the time the four suspected thieves walked into the Staples in Tilton on Friday night, the store was already expecting them.

Police said the four also stole the expensive cartridges from several other New Hampshire stores.

Loss prevention officials at Staples suspected the Tilton store would be targeted next; and they were on alert when the group showed up. Officials said the men noticed the store was onto them and tried to flee, but police were already in the shopping plaza on another call.

Police arrested three men, all from Brooklyn, as they tried to get away. One was found hiding in an employee area at nearby Shaws until a worker saw him.

"When they encountered each other, he ran out the emergency exit out the back of the store," said Tilton police Chief Robert Cormier.

Police said Dollar, the man officers are looking for in Friday's incident, can also be seen on video in a heist from a Bedford Staples on Thursday.

Investigators said the crime wave spans four states in a week.

Police said the group was in nine Staples stores in Massachusetts on Tuesday after a crime spree through New Jersey and Connecticut.

Before being spotted in four New Hampshire Staples on Thursday and Friday leading up to the arrests in Tilton, police said the four used a booster bag to keep security devices from being detected.

"They would target toner, at $100 a box or $200 a box, and they were averaging between $2,000 to $3,000 per store in thefts every time they hit," Cormier said.

While police look for Dollar, the other three men are being held in jail with two cars impounded.

Police said this will likely become a federal case with the U.S. attorney prosecuting on behalf of all the states involved.